WBHM Interviews

2010 Legislative Interviews
The Race for Governor
Jefferson County Sheriff Resistant to Budget Cuts
North Korea Nukes
No Child Left Behind: Year 4
The Pentecostal Century
From BSC to Saturn's Moon
Mental Health & Workplace Productivity

Our live stream webcast is authorized by our agreement to abide by the terms of the license issued by the Recording Industry Association of America. Among the limitations set out in the federal law that created the compulsory license to distribute sound recordings over the internet, we agreed that the webcast would not be distributed on a subscription basis; that it cannot be interactive or "on-demand'; and that we not publish or distribute a program schedule or list of the titles of the specific sound recordings that will be transmitted in advance.

Frequently asked questions regarding WBHM's program change:

Q: What is changing?

A: We are changing our weekday evening and weekend schedule. Weekday evenings, listeners will be able to hear an additional half-hour of All Things Considered, as well as rebroadcasts of The Diane Rehm Show and Fresh Air. Weekend programming includes adding Marketplace Money, On the Media, and additional hours of Echoes. Additionally, other programs will be rebroadcast and change times. Download a pdf of the new schedule here.

Q: When will this programming change take place?

A: The schedule begins Saturday, November 14th.
(NOTE: broadcasts of NPR's World of Opera will begin on Saturday, November 21st.

Q: Why are you making this program change?

A: In looking at listener preferences, there are additional opportunities to improve our public service and increase the number of listeners to WBHM. We believe this program change is in the best long-term interest of WBHM in terms of both listeners and fiscal stability.

Q: What do you mean "public service"? Don't you just mean ratings?

A: No. WBHM is a self-supporting radio station. That means we put programming on the air to attract an audience who, in turn, provide financial support. Over time, if we don't see a significant audience develop and support the programming then we must consider the value of paying for that programming and keeping it on the air. If WBHM were just interested in getting the largest audience possible, then we would air commercial style programming. Programs such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered, A Prairie Home Companion, or Car Talk might not be on WBHM if we were making this change solely to increase our ratings.

Q:There's now hardly any classical music on WBHM anymore. With all the news programming, can't we at least keep classical music on at a time other than overnight hours?

A: Even with classical music on during the evening and weekend hours, we still weren't seeing the listening and the financial support to justify our keeping it on the air.

Q: Why not program other types of music on WBHM such as jazz, Triple A, folk, etc...

A: The most effective way to program radio is to stick with a single format. Currently, NPR News and information is the single most effective format we can offer in terms of audience growth, listener support and underwriting support and is the best public service WBHM can provide.

Q: How exactly do you measure a program's performance on WBHM?

A: We receive data and research from several different companies. Arbitron is the company that collects the initial information. They issue diaries to radio listeners in the Birmingham market and ask participants to track their listening. The company uses the accepted practices of sampling and polling to determine radio listenership. Over time, patterns emerge. Ratings only inform our decisions - they are not the reason we decide to change programming. Furthermore, we take a long-term approach and usually give a program every opportunity to succeed before we even consider removing it from the schedule.

Q: Why not take a poll or survey of the members to see what programming they want to hear?

A: The data collected from Arbitron, over time, translates to thousands of listeners, and is the most accurate indicator we have of listener preferences.

Q: Is this research available to the public?

A. You can make an appointment with Michael Krall, WBHM's Program Director, or Mike Morgan, WBHM's General Manager, and they will be happy to give you an overview of the data. The information is proprietary so we are forbidden from sending it out or making it available on our website.

Q:I will no longer support WBHM financially due to this program change.

A: We are truly sorry to lose your support, and understand that some people will miss classical music on the weeknight and weekend. Again, we believe this program change is in the best long-term interest of WBHM in terms of both listeners and fiscal stability. If we see that these program changes are not working, we'll certainly consider other options.

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